St Anthony’s at Arnold Urgent Care

So I did not realize that after living so close to excellent health care in Minnesota for 17 years that I had an opinion or standards even until I went here. I went three times for the same type of skin rash symptoms on my cheek that looked like a spider bite. they didn’t do anything but look at it visually and prescribe me three different treatments. Guess what I have come to find out on my own? I am allergic to tea tree oil that close to my nose and eye. They ever even asked about my skin care routine? Or tested me for allergies. The room was not that sparkling clean either for a hospital room.

I took my very ill wife to this facility. She had a fever for three days and normal bed rest and over the counter medications were not working. We arrived as soon as it opened at 8am. I was impressed with how fast we were seen, but perhaps it was because it was early on a weekday. My wife had a VERY sore throat making it difficult to swallow and nearly impossible to talk.
The attendant who checked us in was efficient and sympathetic to our situation. My wife had a notepad that she used to communicate to the staff the I would be speaking on her behalf.
Once in the examination room, a nurse gave my wife a test fro strep throat and said they would have the results for the doctor by the time she met with us. The doctor arrived and she did in fact confirm that my wife tested positive for strep. The doctor even made a point to mention that my wife’s case was considerably bad.
At this point, I then advised the doctor that I could answer most questions on behalf of my better half so as to not exacerbate her condition. After answering about three questions, the doctor then stopped her examination, turned to me and rather rudely asked, «So she REALLY can’t talk?» I was dumbstruck. She continued, «I like to be able to speak to my patients directly.»
I looked at my wife as if to say, «Really?» I then responded, «I understand, doctor, but no, she really can’t as you know from the the severity of her condition.»
I left it at that and made it a point to sit quietly for the remainder of the visit. I did not even look at the doctor let alone speak again until we were finished.
I could understand such a comment had this been my wife’s primary care physician as there would be a history already established, but all parties involved should know that we are only here because we need… URGENT CARE, otherwise, we would have scheduled an appointment with her PCP. While I appreciate the sentiment, let’s not fool ourselves that we are creating a deep bond in the five minutes we were there.
It’s a shame. I would’ve rated the facility much higher had we not been so put off by the offense taken by the doctor in my attempt to do what I thought to be courteous. I understand that my behavior could have appeared to seem controlling or even abusive by speaking for my wife, but as stated earlier, it was already established with other staff that I would prefer to speak and the doctor who made the inappropriate comment already had the test results and knew before even stepping into the examination room the severity of my wife’s pain.
We won’t be back despite its convenient location to our home.

I hate going to the hospital, so when I arrived at this clinic, I was very apprehensive. I have been to this clinic before and I have had some pretty bad experiences, including a nurse that mis-​diagnosed a muscular breakdown injury, costing me a lot more money than I actually needed to spend.
But for now, I am only going to review what happened at my recent visit at this location. I arrived around 11AM to get treated for an accidental cut to my finger while trying to cut off a piece of yummy chocolate. Yes, my chocolate addition will eventually kill me. I thought the cut was going to heal eventually, but since it was a tad deep, I decided to go see a professional.
The waiting room was barely empty with one person waiting in the lobby, so I decided to sign my name and wait. The wait in the lobby wasn’t long at all, my name was called in 5 minutes, so I was sent to a desk area to register, which didn’t take much time either. This time the lady at the desk was pleasent to work with, because the registration lady I worked with 2 years ago with my muscular breakdown injury was quite rude.
I was then sent to a room where all my vitals were taken and what not.
Now another lady came in with a rolling cart, who then asked me for additional information. Now, this seemed redundant and ridiculous because this information could have been gathered during the registration session. She also asked me for all the prescriptions I have taken, which confused me quite a bit, since I assumed I walked into an SSM institution and all my meds are housed on their server. I didn’t know the generic drug I was taking for gallstone prevention and the lady rolled up her eyes. I didn’t need an attitude and I tried my best to deal with her and the fact that I still had an open laceration on my finger.
She then came to tell me that she was switching me to another room, so I followed her in and they gave me a small cup to soak up my finger in water. I was advised that they more than likely would not suture me up since I waited too long, which was fine.
However, they let me wait a very very long time in there. So long, I had to walk out to check to see if anybody forgotten about me. I was advised nobody did and they were just busy. When I arrived inside the lobby there was hardly anyone there. How can it get so busy all of a sudden? The nurse that came in to look at my cut was very nice, but my total wait to get treated was three hours. And the rude lady that registered me on the rolling cart came back to dress my finger.
When I left the office, I was surprised to find the lobby packed with people.
So, if you are going into this location to need treatment, expect at least an hour to two hour wait minimum. I am assuming St. Anthony’s did not staff enough people to accomidate the amount of people needing assistance after a huge ice and snowstorm, and this is a huge opportunity for improvement.

The staff here gave the worst info. about stitches. My parents upon learning what I had done were disgusted with what the staff told me to do about my stitches & how the doc. done them. My mother who is a pathologist said that the doc. didn’t do the stitches good. Then on top of that, they were really not happy that the staff told me to take off the dressing 24 hours after I had them done & then to wash the area with warm soapy water 3 — 4 times a day. Not so said my cardiologist dad. I have to keep it dry for at least 1 week for the cut to fully heal. *sigh* :(This maybe the first time in a while since I had stitches that didn’t dissolve. Even then, the last time was done on an area that didn’t require much movement.